The Manila Times

Work to residency in 2022

CRISPIN R. ARANDA

BARRING a surge in Covid-19 variants from India or Brazil, the five Desti-Nations for Filipinos are poised to welcome workers and skilled migrants as permanent residents.

While there had been calls for caution after the Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC) announced a return to normality in dining, playing, working and studying without masks for “fully vaccinated” individuals, the majority of Americans have a common phrase of relief: “We have all longed for this moment.”

It is expected that with businesses and the economy reopening, jobs will come back to life as workers return, spurred in part by the prospect of no new stimulus checks coming.

Hopefully, even the continent Down Under will unseal the borders allowing not just Australians to return home but also to resume skilled migration programs directed at regions through various regional-oriented work visas.

The Skilled Work Regional is for “skilled people nominated by a state, territory government or eligible relative to live and work in regional Australia” under subclass 491.

In addition, the workers’ occupation must be on the state or territory’s list, have a suitable skills assessment for the occupation, provide evidence of English language proficiency and — if meeting the required points for selection — be invited to apply.

The nominating states and territories are New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia.

On the other hand, the Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional allows regional employers to “address identified labor shortages within their region by sponsoring skilled workers where employers can’t source an appropriately skilled Australian worker.”

New Zealand

From Nov. 1, 2021, the New Zealand government will use the new three-step accredited employer work visa (AEWV) employer-led system to recruit temporary for

eign workers. AEWV replaces six of the temporary work visa categories.

The first step is the mandatory accreditation requirement for employers before hiring any migrant workers. The accreditation levels are 1) standard accreditation — for employers who want to have up to five migrant workers on AEWVs at any one time and; 2) highvolume accreditation — for employers who want to have six or more migrant workers on AEWVs at any one time.

Second, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) verifies that the job pays the market rate, the terms and conditions comply with New Zealand employment laws, and the employer has a labor market test to ensure there are no New Zealanders available to do the job that they want to fill.

The final step requires the worker to show that they “meet INZ’s character, identity and health requirements, and meet the skills and experience stipulated as part of the employer’s job check application. If they meet all the requirements, they will be granted a visa to work in New Zealand.”

While skilled workers in or outside New Zealand are both able to apply through the expression of interest (EOI) route, those in New Zealand have an edge since a job offer supporting an EOI is easier to obtain than an overseas applicant who has not shown his or her skill in an actual work environment.

Canada

Finding an approved job offer in the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) website for Canada is the first step. The employer or its agency must obtain the work permit from the Canadian Embassy before the OFW may leave the Philippines with a POEA clearance.

After a year of legal employment, the skilled worker may apply for residency through the Canadian experience class (CEC), one of the three federal programs from which express entry (EE) selects candidates for permanent residency. The other two are the federal skilled worker program and the provincial nominee program.

The same employer may support the CEC-applicant boosting the points total by 50. And like New Zealand or Australia, residency applicants onshore get first crack. The EE invitation draws confirm that a skilled worker with a year of employment in Canada has undue advantage over an overseas applicant.

Over a nine-month period (March 18, 2020 to May 13, 2021), 70,923 applicants from the express entry candidate pool were selected through the CEC. For the next two months, another 26,147 applicants with at least one-year work experience were invited to apply for permanent residency.

In stark contrast for the entire program year (July 2020-June 2021), Australia has only issued 2,433 residency invitations to candidates in the SkillSelect pool.

In July 23, 2020 alone, Canada issued more residency invitations to candidates in the express entry pool — 3,343 than Australia did for the whole program year.

United Kingdom

Of the five Desti-Nations, the United Kingdom is the only country that does not offer a direct pathway to residency, especially to overseas worker applicants. The three Commonwealth nations — Australia, Canada and New Zealand — have immigration selection systems: Australia with SkillSelect, Canada has express entry and New Zealand offers the expression of interest route for its general skilled migration program (EOISM — currently on hold).

Residency for the skilled worker in the United Kingdom, however, comes generally within arm’s length only after five years of legal employment and residency. In addition, an applicant for residency or settlement must) have spent no more than 180 days outside the United Kingdom in any 12 months; b) has a continuing job offer from the employer; and c) the salary meets the minimum requirements.

For long-term or short-term work visas, the United Kingdom requires an employer to be in the Tier 2 registry. Be sure the employer is on the list (whether directly from the employer or as provided by its licensed recruitment agency).

You may check the employer’s registration with the registry by logging on to this link - https://www.gov.uk/ government/publications/register-oflicensed-sponsors-workers

United States

Temporary work in the United States is generally under the H-1B, H-2A (agricultural workers); H-2B (on-agricultural workers). For the H-2A and H-2B a temporary labor certification must first be obtained by the employer from the US Department of Labor’s Employment Training Administration (ETA) — before filing the petition with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Upon approval, the worker then applies for the visa at the US Embassy in Manila.

The H-1B, on the other hand, is for specialty occupations, jobs that require at least a bachelor’s degree. In contrast to the H-2 visas, employers must go through the USCIS registration process paying a $10 registration fee for each beneficiary.

An initial registration period for a minimum of 14 calendar days is opened each fiscal year. Only those with selected registrations will be eligible to file H-1B cap-subject petitions.

Selections will take place after the initial registration period closes, so there is no requirement to register on the day the initial registration period opens. The employer files the petition starting April 1 of the fiscal year to be part of the annual visa cap for that year. The US fiscal year starts on October 1 of the current year to September 30 of the succeeding year.

Computer-based selection is random. Being part of the registered pool does not assure selection, a feature of the H-1B lottery-style selection.

Annual cap

The congressionally mandated cap is 65,000 H-1B visas (commonly known as the “regular cap”) and 20,000 for the advanced degree exemption (beneficiaries who have earned a US master’s degree or higher).

H-1B workers performing labor or services in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and Guam are exempt from the H-1B.

For fiscal year 2022, the USCIS announced on March 31, 2021, that the annual cap had been reached — the agency had received enough electronic registrations during the initial registration period to reach the fiscal year 2022 H-1B numerical allocations (H-1B cap), including the advanced degree exemption (master’s cap).

For employers and workers intending to pursue H-1B work visas for fiscal year 2023, petitions of registered applicants may be filed on April 1, 2022. The employment date must start on Oct. 1, 2022. Good luck.

Work visas

With the specific work permit, the worker then submits an application for a work visa with the specific consular/embassy usually through a designated visa application center.

Prior to departure with the work visa, the worker must obtain the travel exit clearance issued by the POEA to overseas Filipino workers to exit from the Philippines for employment purposes, regardless of their visa status. The travel clearance comes in the following forms:

-- Overseas employment certificate (OEC) — issued during manual processing.

-- E-receipt — issued for computerized processing.

-- Multiple travel exit clearance (MTEC) — a single issuance of travel exit clearance good for at least three exits within the validity period of the existing contract with the same employer, with a duration of not less than 12 months from the date of application of travel clearance. MTEC shall strictly be used for travel to the worker’s jobsite.

Make use of this time to determine if you intend to just work or would pursue a permanent residency pathway. If the latter option, Canada, Australia are the two best bets, with the United Kingdom and New Zealand next. For workers intending to apply for permanent residency in the United States, an alternative route is available under the EB3 immigrant category. There is a 140,000-visa allocation for EB3 worldwide. Currently, there is no waiting period for EB3 for Philippine applicants. With an approved I-140 employer petition, the worker may apply for his or her immigrant visa at the US Embassy.

Meanwhile, stay safe, keep your masked distance, review and renew your academic or work credentials and improve your English language proficiency in preparation for that work-to-immigrant visa application.

As the Beatles sang, you can “work it out.”

Opinion

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2021-05-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-05-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

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The Manila Times